Anelka stunner: Chelsea ace told France door still open

However, the Guardian says Anelka is unlikely to do anything other than laugh at the olive branch extended to him by France. The national team's assistant manager Alain Boghossian has suggested the door remains open to the Chelsea striker, in spite of the 18-match suspension that he incurred for his expulsion from the World Cup squad in the summer.

Boghossian said that, despite Anelka's unavailability - the 31-year-old has served only six matches of the ban - he kept tabs on his performances and he said nobody is ruled out, as he and the manager, Laurent Blanc, look to the long term.

Boghossian, though, acknowledged Anelka's public stance that he was not interested in adding to his 69 international caps. Anelka had said, in the wake of his lengthy suspension, that he was "dying of laughter" and that "for me the French team is now history".

"I have seen a lot of Chelsea matches - no one is banned," Boghossian said. "However, he [Anelka] may have banned himself. He said he did not want to wear the jersey of the team. What can we do, pull his hair to make him come? It will be difficult because he does not have much hair. We can't keep talking about absent players, though. We have to move on."